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Most UGLY Hyena!!!!!

I have seen hundreds of hyenas in my time and I think they are quite cute but I saw the most strangest and ugliest looking hyena ever, during a game drive in the Kwando concession. It reminded me of an Ork from Lord of The Rings.

To make matters worse, this lone hyena got a good hiding from the Lagoon pack of wild dogs (it was trying to follow the dogs when they were on a hunt). See link to some of the pictures.

John - beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I look forward to the picture. Maybe we should have an ugly hyena competition?

Lynn, it was quite interesting. The hyena was following the dogs from a distance. We only spotted the hyena when the dogs went for it. It wasn't much of a fair fight - 6 dogs versus 1 hyena. From the pictures, you can see the hyena backing into a bush to protect its hind quarters. In the end, the hyena ran away as soon as it had an escape route.

The previous day in Kwando, I had an even more amazing sighting - 16 dogs (Selinda pack) versus 10 hyenas. The dogs had taken down an adult Kudu and the hyenas were trying to steal it. But with both of these interactions, I think I captured more on video than on stills (but I haven't checked the video yet!!!).

Good idea, Gaurang, but sorry, my pic is unsalvageable. You'll just have to take my word for it...mine was the scungiest, most scrofulous hyena I've ever seen, and every bit more beautiful than your specimen

You've got some nice shots of the interaction there. I've seen two similar interactions but didn't have the good fortune to get photos. One was just after sunset when we saw a hyena watching us have our sundowners...it was close to the Selinda wild dog den, and one dog stood nose-to-nose (inches apart) with the hyena and told it to take a detour.

Thanks, Gaurang ........ i hate Hyenas too (especially the Lebala ones that keep getting in the face of the two cheetah boys .....)good to see the hyena/dog interaction and your pics bring out the best of it .......

It's a pity that the Selinda pack split up again this year and now had only two pups this year. 11 adults and two pups.

I have a picture of the old one eyed hyena from Lebala. The really grotesque one. From memory, i think Spencer mentioned that she died of old age near camp last year at some stage ........ will try and put up a picture of her over the weekend. But, you may have seen pics of her in that Africa Geographic magazine (dogs vs hyena interaction) pics by Christophe.

I am definitely a big fan of hyenas -- they are fascinating. Jane Goodall actually fell into studying chimps rather than choosing them and has gone on record that if she was to choose a species to study she would go for spotted hyenas because they are so unique. The only social predator that is a matriarchal society. The only African animal with the bite power and teeth to crunch up bone, hooves and horns to gain the protein while the other predators leave 40% of the kill behind, and all that can be digested in 24 hours. Excellent hunters with a single individual capable of taking down a bull wildebeest 3 times its weight. Plus, they almost always seem to be going somewhere interesting if they are not there already. Lots to love or at least respect, its too bad they suffer from years of misinformation that has painted them the dirty scavenger (with Disney cementing the hate club) when in fact lions probably raid hyena kills much more than the other way around. Studies show male lions respond to the hyena feeding calls at a rate equal to hyenas themselves.

Beyond that the hyena whooping call with the unnerving laughs mixed in is my absolute favorite sound on safari!

Nice pics, Michael ..... i suspect the current four boys should/would continue to do this to the hyenas in the neighborhood. A couple years ago, i saw this amazing scene of hyenas feeding on hippo that lost out in a territorial fight of it's own ...... and the whole clan was going at the carcass!

Lynn, good point about the situation. I think it may have been a female because of the larger size.

20 minutes after the dogs shook off the hyena, they came across a female impala hiding her fawn in the long grass. The mother ran but the poor fawn was lifted off the ground and torn apart by the dogs. Within 10 seconds the fawn was in six pieces - it was so quick and over in a flash. 5 minutes later, there was nothing left of the fawn - even the skull and hooves had been eaten, which I found surprising.

I did manage to get some pictures (not great ones) and I will post a link soon.

Imelda`s mentioning of cute Baby Hyenas made me remember these pictures. They were taken just outside Letab in Kruger. The Hyena was giving birth in a drainage tube under the road and we could just hear the sounds. Another vehicle had seen the sister carry away another newborn. After 10 minutes the mother appeared with this one and walked away.
I think the babies are very cute.
The last picture was taken at Stanleys. The Hyena Cubs were very playfulk and one of them starting chewing on one of the tyres on the vehicle.
Michaelhttp://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=d9b9w2z.97d9woqv&Uy=tzrgzs&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Another hyena lover here.
On our mobile tent safari last year there was a gentleman who admitted he was terrified of hyenas. It didn't help when on our 1st nite a hynea helped itself to a pot off the serving table right next to us as we ate dinner. Then after we were in bed that nite we could hear it sniffing around the tents.
Several days into our trip we hadn't seen any hyenas for a couple days and he actually admitted that he missed them!

Imelda, it's the colour of the hyena that makes it stand out. They usually start with a dark chocolate brown coat and then start to show their spots at around 2-3 months. The coat then fades to a lighter brown/grey colour. But this adult hyena has an unusual dark grey coat.

Here is a link to one of our older albums (using a film camera) which has some cute hyena shots:

Thanks Gaurang - couldn't figure out if it was a different 'type' of Hyena or just a 'normal' 'super cool' one (I think the black colouring makes him even more 'handsome' - going on Kavey's logistics!).

BTW, your photos are FANTASTIC! - LOVE those Cheetah pics as well as the Mom & baby Giraffe and the Hippos and of course those cute little Hyena cubs

The interaction was really interesting. When we arrived, the beta female hyena and two cubs were at the den (the younger was the beta's cub, the older was the alpha's). The beta mother was babysitting, and the beta cub was acting like it owned the place. The alpha cub was very shy and generally kept a distance from the beta mother and cub. But man did it change when the alpha female returned. The beta female scurried off into the bush, the beta cub dashed for the safety of the den, and the alpha cub started strutting around the roost. It was really amazing to watch.

This is definitely the best hyena shot I have ever seen taken by one of the best photographers I have ever met in many years of safaris - Christophe Courteau from Paris - his entire website is filled with amazing pics.